Median earnings by education attainment

Financial resources

Median earnings by education attainment

What does this measure?

Median earnings, adjusted for inflation, by educational attainment for the population of adults 25 years or older. Half of earnings are below the median, and half are above.

Why is this important?

Median earnings provide a gauge of overall economic health of the region and the financial resources of individuals. Those with higher educational attainment tend to earn more than those with a high school diploma or less. Across the nation, individuals with a bachelor's degree earn about twice as much as those with a high school diploma or equivalent.

How is our region performing?

In 2010-14, residents in the region with less than a high school education had a median income of $18,400, compared to $25,900 among those residents with a high school diploma or equivalent. Regional residents with a bachelor's degree had median earnings of $44,200, compared with $31,400 for residents with some college or an associate's degree, and $58,900 among residents with a graduate or professional degree. In Anderson County, median earnings for those with graduate or professional degrees were $65,272 compared to $18,200 for those without a high school education, while in Union County, the difference was much smaller - $47,900 vs. $22,400 - possibly driven by the types of jobs available in those areas.

Median earnings for those with bachelor's degrees were on par with the state but below the national level ($50,500). Median earnings for high school graduates in the region were slightly lower than the state ($18,600), and well below the national median ($20,000). The region's median earnings were less than national earnings for every educational attainment level.

Notes about the data

Figures presented in 2014 dollars. The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census.